A senior Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) leader has warned that his party would only return to parliament if the measure is reconsidered.
According to Oyet Nathaniel, the first deputy speaker of the National Legislative Assembly, the speaker’s decision to pass the law was carried out without agreement, and the dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party tampered with the bill’s content.
“The SPLM worked hard to ensure that this measure was undemocratic. It should prohibit other parties from registering in order for it to compete and participate in elections,” Nathaniel explained.
He further claimed that the National Constitutional Amendment Committee was meant to write all modifications to the law, which never happened. Nathanial charged the governing party with tampering with a security law, a wildlife bill, a police bill, and other pieces of legislation.
Other Political Parties (OPP), a coalition of parties, also denounced the passing of the Political Parties Act and threatened to boycott parliament if the measure was not renegotiated.
OPP spokesman Albino Akol Atak also accused the governing party of altering the bill’s terms on political party finance, commission independence, and the number of registered voters a party must achieve to qualify for registration in each state.
“We wrote to the speaker, and we specifically said that we opposed the manner it was really formed, and we are pushing for this issue to be ratified,” Atak broached.
The measure was approved via correct processes, according to Parliament spokesman John Agany.
“I-O and OPP, they should realize this was a routine practice,” Agany explained.
Members of the SPLM-IO, according to Nathaniel, would refuse to return to parliament until the matter is handled. He noted that President Salva Kiir might choose not to sign the law and instead send it back to parliament for additional study.
Meanwhile, the governing SPLM party has been busily rallying supporters ahead of the scheduled national elections next year.
Vice President Wani Igga encouraged SPLA party officials to excite the party base during a swearing-in ceremony for deputy governors and the head of an administrative district in the capital, Juba, on Monday.
“These are not going to be ordinary elections.” “We have folks who are going to do all they can to compete and democratically demolish us here,” Igga remarked.
SPLA acting secretary-general Peter Lam Both asked party leaders to unite party members at the same gathering.
“The unity of the SPLM membership is your concern.” Unless your rationale is flawed, no one will take the risk of going and failing. We all go in order to win and complete our tasks. “Unify the party members for your success,” Both said.
Citizens, according to Albino Akol, spokesman for the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, a collaboration of political parties and armed organizations, desire change.
“In any nation, the only way to get rid of terrible rulers is via elections.” So, as political parties, we are looking forward to the day when elections will be held at the conclusion of the transition phase,” Akol explained in a South Sudan in Focus report seen by NCMP
Observers are concerned about the delayed implementation of clauses in the Revitalized Peace Agreement, which ended the country’s civil conflict, in the run-up to the 2023 general election.
